SA ranks 12th at D&AD Judging 2016

The UK came out top in the country rankings with 217 Pencils, with South Africa sharing 12th place with Spain at 13 pencils. The US (143 Pencils) and France (48 Pencils) came in second and third places respectively. In the inaugural categories, PR and Media, there were 20 Pencils awarded for Media and 36 for PR.

Top agencies

Grey London was named the most awarded agency, with 15 Pencils to its name, 8 of which came for its work with Volvo on the Life Paint campaign. This piece of work saw the company release a spray paint that makes surfaces glow in car headlights, aiming to make cycling safer. Joint 2nd place went to AMV BBDO, R/GA and BBDO New York with 12 Pencils. In 5th place was Dentsu Tokyo with 11 Pencils. In 6th place was Ogilvy & Mather London, Droga5, Y&R Auckland and Ogilvy & Mather Singapore with 10 Pencils and in 10th place were Google and FCB Chicago and Leo Burnett Chicago with 8 Pencils.

South African winners

Notable winning campaigns

• Google, evolved and Primer App by Google: taking home 8 Pencils from D&AD Judging this year, making it the only in-house creative team to make the top ten rankings, alongside advertising agencies. Campaigns included Google, evolved, its most recent branding refresh across all its platforms, and Primer App, an app giving mini-marketing lessons to startups

• Holograms for Freedom by DDB Spain for No somos delito (We Are Not Crime): - Winner of 6 Pencils, including the Creativity for Good category. The campaign saw the first hologram protest, with thousands of people around the world appearing virtually in Las Cortes Square in Madrid to appeal against the recently approved Citizens’ Security Law, which restricts citizens’ right to protest on the street

• Missing Type by Engine Group for NHS Blood and Transplant: Winner of 3 Pencils. In a bid to increase the number of blood donors in the UK, NHS Blood and Transplant teamed up with Engine Group, to imagine a world without the letters A, O and B - the letters which correspond with common blood types. The campaign involved removing the ‘O’ from the Downing Street sign and led to 30,000 new blood donor registrations over one week

• Priceless Traps by Geometry Global Colombia for Ministry of Environment and Sustainability: - winner of 3 Pencils, contributing to an overall win of 14 Pencils for Colombia this year, which is more than its combined total in all previous years at D&AD. Lionfish have been described as a ‘menace’ to the Colombian environment, eating crucial species and threatening the livelihood of more than 400,000 people who depend on fishing. This campaign saw the creation of specially designed traps, made using recycled materials, to control the numbers of lionfish and protect fishing in Colombia

• Melanoma Likes Me by GPY&R Brisbane for Melanoma Patients Australia: Winner of 5 Pencils, including in the Creativity for Good category. Over 1 500 Australians die from melanoma every year and it is the most lethal cancer for those aged between 15 and 30. GPY&R and Melanoma Patients Australia created an online persona for Melanoma, which liked, followed and commented on sun-related social media activities of young Australians, aiming to shock them into better sun safety behaviours

• It Happens Here by Ogilvy & Mather London for 28 Too Many: Winner of 7 Pencils, including the Creativity for Good category. Designed to raise awareness across the UK about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Ogilvy & Mather London and anti-FGM charity 28 Too Many launched a series of posters showing different flags which had been mutilated and then sewn back together

• Love Has No Labels by R/GA for Ad Council: Winning 6 Pencils, this pro bono campaign by R/GA for the Ad Council aimed to promote further understanding and acceptance of all communities regardless of race, religion, gender, sexuality, age, ability and more, by encouraging audiences to examine and challenge their own implicit biases

• McWhopper by Y&R Auckland for Burger King: With 8 Pencils, McWhopper is one of the most highly-awarded individual campaigns from D&AD 2016. This integrated campaign saw Burger King call for a ‘burger wars ceasefire’ with longstanding rival McDonald’s, proposing that on Peace Day, the two chains team up to cook and serve the ‘McWhopper,’ a burger combining ingredients from McDonald’s Big Mac and Burger King’s Whopper

Colour Pencil announcements in May

The Black Pencil jury has also met in secrecy to decide which of the winning work deserves of the highest accolade of the Awards. Some years no Black Pencils are awarded: the record currently stands at seven. Entrants who have won a Pencil will have to wait until the Awards Ceremony at Battersea Evolution on 19 May 2016 to see what kind of Pencil; Wood, Graphite, Yellow, White or Black.

To view the Festival and campaign images, click here.